Smarter Baggage Handling 10497

VanderlandeIndustries and IBM has helpedAmsterdam's Schiphol Airport create a smarter baggage system and a more preciseability to manage the growing amount of baggage expected to pass through theairport in the future. The new baggage handling hall is part of the airport's70 Million Bag program to increase the capacity of the airport by 40 percent to70 million bags in the future.

AirportSchiphol is carrying out this project in collaboration with KLM, Vanderlande Industriesand IBM. Vanderlande, IBM and Grenzebach Automation designed, built and testedthis system, considered to be an advanced baggage handling facility, featuringspace efficient applications such as robotized loading of baggage.

Throughan interconnected, synchronized system every single bag can be located at anypoint in its journey. A 21 km transport conveyor contains innovative technologyincluding AS/RS (Automated Storage and Retrieval System) bag storage with 36cranes operating a fully redundant storage of over 4,200 bag positions andDCV-technology (Destination Coded Vehicles), as well as six robot cells for theautomated loading of bags into containers and carts. It is expected that up to60 percent of all baggage in the South hall will be handled by robots, whichwill increase productivity as well as improve the ergonomic working conditionsfor operators.

Aftercheck-in bags go directly into the bag storage, waiting to be loaded. Robotsenable this process by pulling bags from the bag storage on-demand, and releasingbaggage on the conveyor belt only when needed to prevent overload of thesystem. This way, the airline can handle more bags in less time, with lowercost, energy efficient and in a limited space. It enables the airport tomaximize its efficiency, cost effectiveness and service levels, as well as tomeet increasing sustainability demands.

Accordingto Greg Sikes, director of systems offering strategy and delivery for IBMRational, what stands out about this application is the just-in-time process. Notonly is the system able to deal with baggage, taking it from the traveler andsetting it aside, it's also able to access it and pull it for the flight whenit's needed. The result is more efficiency and productivity.

"Certainlythe software continues to show it's more and more the key part of being theinnovation behind the system," says Sikes. "Whether it's the embedded softwarein the robotic devices, the scheduling program that has to deal with gatechanges, the logistics and communications software, or the individual deviceembedded software that's dealing with individual pieces of luggage, it allshows what's possible with a very complex system of systems."

IBMRational is providing software applications for the project that supportrequirements management, change management and software configurationmanagement. They have been working with Vanderlande Industries for a number ofyears, which took an application lifecycle management approach and arequirements-driven approach towards this application. Another key is that therequirements management software lets the user to understand, not only therequirements, but then also to look at them from the test side and how many ofthe requirements are actually being tested against.

Byintegrating the baggage control system with passenger check-in information, theAmsterdam airport has streamlined the process for the airlines of baggagetracking and reconciling passengers with their bags. Linking into real-timeflight information allows for quick off-loading of baggage when a passengermisses his flights and for redirection of bags on alternative flights whenconnections are missed.

Theintegrated system also provides accurate, up-to-date information and metrics tomonitor baggage handling performance, helping managers resolve issues quicklyand identify areas for improvement. Heavy baggage is handled automatically byrobots that work around the clock.

Click hereto see how Amsterdam Schiphol Airport is increasing capacity and improvingbaggage flow using smarter software.